15 Comments
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Jeff Keener's avatar

Another really cool story. I've spent 35 years working off and on at mine camps. There was always a lot of book trading going on. Thank you, Kathleen!

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Kathleen McCook's avatar

At the turn of the last century books were so precious. But the rationale--"less swearing, gambling, ‘jumping’ and running to the saloons" is kind of quaint. What, I wonder, was wrong with "jumping?"

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Jeff Keener's avatar

I think that suggests just dropping your tools and running for the saloon.

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Mari, the Happy Wanderer's avatar

This is all just fascinating. I especially love the teacher who worked alongside his students so that he could understand and teach them better. What insight he had!

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Bill Heath's avatar

Amazing. I never had any idea

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Frédéric Santerre's avatar

Interesting story. I wonder if French Canadians working in these camps had French readings.

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Kathleen McCook's avatar

The article by Lorne Bruce lists some books in French but not many.

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Frédéric Santerre's avatar

North Ontario has French Canadian communities. This is why I wondered if they had French readings. I don't know if English and French communities worked together or separately, but there is a good chance some FC workers were bilingual, especially in Ontario.

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Kathleen McCook's avatar

The main thing was that most could not read at all and that looks like why they came up with the labourer-teacher idea... and one of the articles did say many were French.

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Frédéric Santerre's avatar

Just saw it: ''The reading camp is a success. In spite of the fact that eighty percent of our men are French Canadians, and fifty percent cannot read English or French, I

am surprised to find that a building 20 x 30 feet is filled every evening, and all

day Sundays.''

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PJ Leigh's avatar

I wonder how many Chinese slaves were allowed access to this idea? Dying at a rate of perhaps a dozen a mile for the rail they helped to lay, they were hardly in the eye of kindness. Yet undoubtedly they too were as 'Canadian' as anyone else, whatever this meant or even means today.

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Kathleen McCook's avatar

The timeline is not very specific, but this would be worth finding out: https://www.unitedforliteracy.ca/About/Our-Story

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PJ Leigh's avatar

Fighting the illiteracy machinery of schooling is very much a story of today.

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Bette Wismann's avatar

I liked this very much. The videos were good too. Thanks for sharing

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Kathleen McCook's avatar

I could see you would do this if you were working in 1900.

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